AI Podcast 2.0: The host in the machine

Planet Money

NPR

Business, News

4.6 • 30.5K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Part 1 of this series, AI proved that it could use real research and real interviews to write an original script for an episode of Planet Money. Our next task was to teach the computer how to sound like us. How to read that script aloud like a Planet Money host.

On today's show, we explore the world of AI-generated voices, which have become so lifelike in recent years that they can credibly imitate specific people. To test the limits of the technology, we attempt to create our own synthetic voice by training a computer on recordings of former Planet Money host Robert Smith. Then we introduce synthetic Robert to his very human namesake.

There are a lot of ethical, and economic, questions raised by a technology that can duplicate anyone's voice. To help us make sense of it all, we seek the advice of an artist who has embraced AI voice clones: the musician Grimes.

This episode was produced by Emma Peaslee and Willa Rubin, with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Keith Romer and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by James Willetts. Jess Jiang is our acting executive producer.

We built a Planet Money AI chat bot. Help us test it out: Planetmoneybot.com.

Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Just a heads up, this is episode two of a three-part series exploring whether artificial intelligence
0:06.0	can make a planet money episode.
0:08.6	Today's episode does make passing mention of a couple of technologies from Apple and
0:12.5	Google.
0:13.5	You should know that both of those companies are financial supporters of national public
0:17.6	radio.
0:18.6	Here is today's show.
0:21.4	This is Planet Money from NPR.
0:26.6	Here at Planet Money, we have been testing these new artificial intelligence technologies
0:31.7	to see how much of our jobs they can actually do.
0:35.7	Last episode we use tools like ChatGPT in some moderately complicated ways to write an
0:42.0	entire planet money episode.
0:44.5	And that episode is finished.
0:47.2	We have a script.
0:48.2	We are excited for you to hear that podcast.
0:51.7	But if we are really going to take seriously the question of, is the AI going to replace
0:57.0	us, we wanted to go all the way.
0:59.0	We needed the computers to also replace our voice to narrate this episode.
1:05.9	And if we were going to have the computer do the talking, we might as well go big.
1:10.7	Get the most planet money, e-voice of all the planet money voices.
1:15.1	I speak of course of, hello and welcome to Planet Money.
1:18.4	I'm Robert Smith.
	...

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